This episode wasn’t as epic as I was expecting it to be and while I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed by it, I’d definitely say I’m a bit deflated by it.
Last years series finale was a first - the Doctor breaking all the rules and getting through the story at about 100 miles per hour. This one is very different, with a far slower pace and the story-teller method that Moffat used for the bulk of the episode didn’t quite agree with me.
The Daleks made an appearance - or rather one Dalek made an appearance then died after being taunted and stripped down by the Doctor.
That was something I really liked about this episode – the Doctor spends the first part acting like the dangerous force that he is. High point is him walking into a bar, demanding to see someone, then slamming a Dalek eye-stalk on the bar to show how serious he is. If the show keeps going in this direction, I reckon the next Doctor will be played by Kiefer Sutherland.
Another thing I really liked was the skulls in the Headless Monk’s storage place - the Moff really does know how to come up with something cool to guard the…well large amount of story exposition. But guy being eaten by skulls on family show is almost as good as the bit with the exploding baby from ‘A Good Man Goes to War.”
There is a much desired, albeit slightly overdue, tribute to Nicholas Courtney or “Brigadier Leftbridge-Stewart”. There had been rumors before Courtney’s death that the character was going to be revived, in much the same way as Sarah-Jane Smith had been. The way that in this episode, the Doctor calls UNIT to have an adventure with him, only to find that he’s too late could well mirror the way that the writers felt about not being able to give him one last appearance in the show.
The visual in this episode are stunning - I really think that the Beeb must have given Who a hell of a lot more money if this is the kind of thing they can come up with. The special effects are good and settings are 100% cinematic. This episode looks incredible.
But in the words of the one and only Judge Judy “beauty fades, dumb is forever”. This episode might look great, but in a few years time the special effects are going to be obvious looking and the settings are going to be trumped by some other show being even more bold.
This is the primary reason that the story is always the most important part of a TV show or film. You can have the best special effects in the world and your story should still be priority 1.
There are pats of this story that don’t really flow very well and it seems to be going out of its way to almost not be complicated enough. The largest aspect of this is the survival of the Doctor - SPOILER ALERT!
The Doctor using the Teselecta as a means to survive was honestly the first thing I thought of when I found out what it was in “Let’s Kill Hitler” – while it is a far more sensible and logical way of dealing with a problem than say the regeneration fake-out that we got in “The Stolen Earth” it didn’t seem quite insane enough.
There are also some hiccups in the common sense of this episode - he seems to want Amy and Rory to think he’s dead purely to make them miserable and the Silence all escape their cells by taking advantage of a design flaw I like to refer to as you-made-their-cells-out-of-glass-then-left-them-unsupervised-pretty-much-all-day.
That said, the whole idea that the purpose of this episode was nothing more than the Doctor faking his death was quite good. The Doctor’s death turns out to be the Pandorica of this series; not really as important as the other issues such as the question and such.
Not really much to say – it’s good, but I don’t feel like Moffat is throwing everything in. he’s clearly building a slow-burn story, to lead on to the next series, but after enduring a season break I’m not sure that slowing things down at the end is really a good idea.
But hey, this episode’s good, it looks great, the performances are top notch and it opens another can of worms at the end, with the question; DOCTOR WHO?
So presumably, the Doctor’s name can destroy the whole universe or we’re heading for mass audience disappointment as the Doctor turns to his one true love River Song and says “Patrick”.
